North Korea Says It Has an H - Bomb

North Korea announced today that it has successfully detonated a hydrogen bomb. It supposedly has already detonated a number of atomic bombs. Some people (myself included) think that the leader of that country, Kim Jong-un, is a ruthless narcissistic dictatorial maniac. I wonder what extremes he would go to if he had a substantial nuclear arsenal. Per the 2nd article:

North Korea said Wednesday it had successfully tested a miniature hydrogen bomb, which if confirmed, would place it among a small group of countries with such dangerous weapons....The hydrogen, or thermonuclear bomb works on the principle of fusion of two nuclei, and generates temperatures similar to those found at the sun’s core.

Per the 1st article:

On top of any fourth nuclear test, North Korea also appears to have tested a submarine-launched missile. The ability to launch missiles from submarines would change the whole calculation of military response because warning times of an attack on, for example, the West Coast of the United States would be much shorter....Hours before the seismic activity, South Korean media reported that Pyongyang had test-fired a ballistic missile from a submarine in late December....The United Nation Security Council plans to hold a meeting of its members on Wednesday.

Replies to This Discussion

Some people think (myself included) that the leader of that country, Kim Jong Un, is a ruthless narcissistic dictatorial maniac.

Or even more terrifying is the idea that he isn't, and he's just a puppet of ruthless, dictatorial maniacs who don't feel the same degree of accountability for their actions, since their names aren't on the label.

This situation is very little different from what happened not quite three years ago when Kim Jong Un was kicking off his rule with the requisite saber-rattling which has been the modus operandi of North Korea since his grandfather was running the show. Obviously, the situation is becoming far more serious with the advent of potentially more powerful weapons which Kim may deploy against his neighbors, though considering the success or lack of his rocket program, using that method of deployment would be iffy at best.

At this point, I think a message needs to be conveyed to Kim and the powers that be in North Korea: ANY use of ANY form of weapon of mass destruction by his government will be answered, perhaps not in kind, but with sufficient conventional force to render his administration moot. I talked about this before in a comment on the above linked post. Stipulated that it would not be a nice, clean battle, but it would be remarkably one-sided after PRNK's first move.

My sense is that Kim & Co. want US to make the first move and justify their retaliation, an event which I don't see happening under the Obama's leadership or any other Democratic candidate as president after 2017. A Republican president would likely be an entirely different matter, and one more reason NOT to elect such a president. For right now, some very terse diplomacy needs to be put into use, to make Kim and his cronies understand that this is a direction they do NOT want to go in.

On further reflection, it appears that Kimmy boy's regime may very well have NOTdetonated a hydrogen bomb. I did hear one salient comment about the juvenile leader of the northern part of the Hermit Kingdom. Given the inter-party politics and military jockeying for power, he may need to sleep with one eye open at night. All praise the Dear Leader (until he turns his back, Brutus). Having your uncle on the general staff of the military executed by an anti-aircraft cannon may not necessarily endear you to the people who actually have the bombs.